Coolpix 4300 vs. ?

Hello all;

I have been looking into digital cameras for "through the ep"
astrophotography and was wondering if it is even worth it.

I would like a digital camera I can use for both everyday photography and
astrophotography. I have had good success with a borrowed HP photosmart 720
on the moon but I would certainly purchase a camera with manual control for
any attempt at dimmer objects.

My question:

Is there a camera out there, under/around $400 that can handle imaging of
say Andromeda, M81/82, Double Cluster, M13, or Ring Nebula right out of the
box?

I have scoured the thread from a few days ago, and it seems as though the
Nikon Coolpix 4300 could work but you'd need a remote cable that doesn't
seem to be worth the extra $100. see this review
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product...isplay=reviews

Does anyone have any POSITIVE experiences with a similar setup? Or with
another camera? I will be using a C8 (sometimes my school's Nexstar8 when I
host my middle school astronomy astronomy club)

I guess what is important to me is extended exposures and manual focus while
either remotely operating or setting up a delay to minimize vibrations.

OR...

Should I just buy a webacm and stack images?
WIll this method even work on dim objects? (ie, brighter messiers listed
above, I can't even find the dim ones here on Long Island)


I know it's alot to ask, but any input is greatly appreciated

Thanks, Tim
(formerly Chunga, it's been about 6 months since i've posted)

I have an Olympus Camedia C200Z (sometimes called C2000Zoom) that I bought
in 1999. It was quite expensive then ($900), but if it's still
manufactured (I think it is, if not, there are a lot of used ones out
there), the price has dropped . You can still get accessories as well
(including T adapters). Check out this web page
http://members.tripod.com/~ghonis/c2020zdeep.htm, and see what this fella
has done. I'm waiting for my Meade tele-extender, and i'll be taking
pictures through my 8" LX-200 soon. I don't know if focus will be an issue
here, but the web page offers some insight into that.

It's not advertised, but there are some "secret modes" (see web page above)
that will allow the camera to take up to 32 second exposures. As
advertised, the shortest is 1/2sec. I've tried this mode with wide-field
photography, and it does work. For 1sec exposures, you start to see the
same problems as you would with any CCD - noise from dark current, bias,
etc. Taking dark frames and subtracting them is easy - the problems is with
taking flats. Even without flats, the pictures were not bad - but not the
quality of an expensive CCD camera, either. The only thing that is missing
is manual focus, but that hasn't been a problem for wide-field.

As far as everyday photography, it does a very good job - just be aware that
this camera does not have a removable lens, but there are lenses for
telephoto/macro, slide duplicator, etc.

I'm not claiming that this camera is the best (or even very good) at
astrophotography; it's the only digital camera I have experience with. BTW,
the camera comes with a remote control, so you don't have to touch the
camera to take photos.

I hope that this was helpful to you.

Regards,
Dave Cohen

"Tim Powers" wrote in message
...
Hello all;

I have been looking into digital cameras for "through the ep"
astrophotography and was wondering if it is even worth it.

I would like a digital camera I can use for both everyday photography and
astrophotography. I have had good success with a borrowed HP photosmart
720
on the moon but I would certainly purchase a camera with manual control
for
any attempt at dimmer objects.

My question:

Is there a camera out there, under/around $400 that can handle imaging of
say Andromeda, M81/82, Double Cluster, M13, or Ring Nebula right out of
the
box?

I have scoured the thread from a few days ago, and it seems as though the
Nikon Coolpix 4300 could work but you'd need a remote cable that doesn't
seem to be worth the extra $100. see this review
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product...isplay=reviews

Does anyone have any POSITIVE experiences with a similar setup? Or with
another camera? I will be using a C8 (sometimes my school's Nexstar8 when
I
host my middle school astronomy astronomy club)

I guess what is important to me is extended exposures and manual focus
while
either remotely operating or setting up a delay to minimize vibrations.

OR...

Should I just buy a webacm and stack images?
WIll this method even work on dim objects? (ie, brighter messiers listed
above, I can't even find the dim ones here on Long Island)


I know it's alot to ask, but any input is greatly appreciated

Thanks, Tim
(formerly Chunga, it's been about 6 months since i've posted)